I hate my new vacuum. Polaris Quattro

[EmilyOTR]

So we inherited a Polaris 380 (I think) from the previous owners. we used it for 4 seasons and we don't know how many it was used prior, but it looks old. I've been considering replacing it the past 2 seasons as I was spending money almost yearly tuning it up but it was still getting the job done but I was basically letting it run all day. Last year, our booster pump needed replaced so I replaced it. this meant a robot was out of the question (plus I don't want a cord running across the deck) SO this year the week before we opened we bought a Polaris Quattro during polaris days. It was constantly getting stuck on the ladder, so we bought a ladder guard. now it's constantly getting stuck on one of the returns, it can break free but it wastes a lot of time there. it spends a ton of time climbing, we adjusted the thrust to going straight down which is supposed to help but it is ALWAYS climbing. the manual says it should clean an average size pool in 1-2 hours. My pool is small, and it can run all day and not clean the bottom fully. I've been struggling with this since we opened but May is a messy month with tree pollen for us so I was giving it the benefit of the doubt, but pollen is done falling and it still can't keep up. I'm so frustrated and ready to plug in the old 380. at least it never got stuck on things. and stayed on the bottom.

 

[Mike Hawk]

That sucks.

I'm kinda in the same boat. We bought the house and it had side suction so that's what I stuck with. The gifted kreepy krauly that came with the pool never really worked. I then upgraded to a PoolCleaner but 5 years later it's falling apart (broken front flap tooth, worn down tracks, gear drive worn out so it just sits in one place for long periods of time.)

I felt I should stick with side suction, not really knowing any better, and it's what came with the pool. I assumed it was "the best".

Well, after unhealthy amounts of research on TFP I have an electrical plug in S200 clone coming my way from Marina. I can't wait to try it out. Review after review confirms the plug ins will beat the snot out of side suction/pressure bots. Who knew?

Maybe you can return/sell your current setup?

 

[EmilyOTR]

This is what it picked up today from 8-3. Now this is weird because it has definitely been getting full. But today it’s not and there’s lots of Crud at the bottom. It looks worse than it did at 8 am.

 

[rphpool]

I have a Quattro also and here is what I discovered when it stops cleaning as well as it first did. The gear drive box inside slowly splits open. It would spew water and lose pressure when this happened. When you look at the design of the gear box you can see how this is happening. I received a new one from Polaris but decided to try and fix the old one. I used supper glue to glue the split back together. I re installed and it worked perfectly with the full pressure it needed. 1 year later it split again in same spot, cleaner would not clean. I installed the new one after putting PVC glue all around the seam that splits open , and it is working perfectly again. Looks like it did a better job of bonding the 2 pieces back together.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

it spends a ton of time climbing, we adjusted the thrust to going straight down which is supposed to help but it is ALWAYS climbing. the manual says it should clean an average size pool in 1-2 hours. My pool is small, and it can run all day and not clean the bottom fully.

I find my Quattro spends about twice as much time climbing as it does cleaning the bottom. This is bad to the point of being destructive when running under my auto-cover. Those front rubber scrubbers pull the thread out of the cover and the thread gets stuck around the rollers, bringing the Quattro to a halt. Then I have the pleasure of spending 15 minutes pulling out the thread by hand while worrying about the cover's longevity. The adjustable rear jet has no visible effect. The walls are clean, but there is still debris on the bottom after 2 hours.

I am experimenting with weights to reduce the climbing. At first I simply put 2 rocks in the collection bin. That didn't work because the rocks would shift around, causing the Quattro to become unbalanced and tip over. I am currently trying a metal wrench (9/16" if you care ) zip-tied to the front handle to keep the front from climbing. That is working well enough to prevent the Quattro from eating my auto-cover, but it still spends more time on the walls than on the floor. Unfortunately, the wrench is not stainless and is starting to rust and I don't want metal in my water. Do stainless steel hand wrenches exist? I also moved the floats further back on the hose, away from the Quattro to make it less buoyant. That accomplished little.

Next step is to find more stable weights to put in the bins and/or to replace the blue restrictor disc with the red one. I spoke with a Polaris representative who had no better ideas.

Any other suggestions are welcome before I bite the bullet and rebuild my old 3900 again. I would really prefer to get the Quattro running properly such that it cleans the pool floor and keeps climbing to a minimum.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

I wonder whether fishing weights (sinkers) would work. They could be attached so they wouldn't move around. Or would the lead leach out into the water, becoming poison?

Bullet Weights Bass Assortment

Bullet Weights Bass Assortment

www.sportsmans.com

 

[EmilyOTR]

yes, it climbs too much and is getting stuck on my returns and they move around. I have to fix the position of the returns nearly daily.

 

[EmilyOTR]

well, I contacted Polaris and they told me to have Leslie's repair it under the warranty, but I don't think it's got a problem, I think it's a crappy cleaner. I guess we will see.

 

[LoneWolfArcher]

I got a Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus. Noticed today it was on the sidewall, backing up and running into the ladder over and over again. Not sure how long it would have stayed there, but I grabbed it and dropped it back into the pool and it started running along the bottom again. It keeps the pool clean so I was surprised by how long he was in that one spot. They are not a perfect science but sure beats dragging the hoses and vacuum pole out!

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

@EmilyOTR I'd be very interested in what Leslie's has to say if you do bring it in. I agree there is nothing defective about the unit except that it spends too much time on the walls and not enough on the floor.

I've ordered the fishing sinkers linked to above and will give them a try before giving up.

 

[EmilyOTR]

I got a Dolphin Nautilus CC Plus. Noticed today it was on the sidewall, backing up and running into the ladder over and over again. Not sure how long it would have stayed there, but I grabbed it and dropped it back into the pool and it started running along the bottom again. It keeps the pool clean so I was surprised by how long he was in that one spot. They are not a perfect science but sure beats dragging the hoses and vacuum pole out!

agree but the pool is never clean. it runs all day and it's never clean. the manual says it should clean the pool in 1-2 hours. My old 380 was better than this.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

@EmilyOTR, have you tried reducing flow? I have tweaked just about everything and the only thing that really worked was to open the pressure relief just a little. Quattro now stays mostly on the floor! It still climbs, but does not break the surface, which was my main goal with an auto-cover. This may be an incremental thing, as I have also festooned Quattro with probably 1/2 - 3/4 lb of weights and moved the rear jet from the default 3:00 to 5:00.

Wheel rotation speed is 25-26 rpm, a little less than recommended, but I don't care.

In any case, good luck and I hope you'll report back with your final outcome.

 

[EmilyOTR]

@EmilyOTR, have you tried reducing flow? I have tweaked just about everything and the only thing that really worked was to open the pressure relief just a little. Quattro now stays mostly on the floor! It still climbs, but does not break the surface, which was my main goal with an auto-cover. This may be an incremental thing, as I have also festooned Quattro with probably 1/2 - 3/4 lb of weights and moved the rear jet from the default 3:00 to 5:00.

Wheel rotation speed is 25-26 rpm, a little less than recommended, but I don't care.

In any case, good luck and I hope you'll report back with your final outcome.

oh interesting. how do you reduce the flow? use the red disk? Or am I reading that opposite?

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

No, turn the black [EDIT] white ring on the side of the connector to the wall fitting. The pressure relief valve is number 48 in this diagram. Loosen it a bit and you will feel water coming out. I didn't have to loosen mine very much.

 

[EmilyOTR]

thank you!!! I did this and I think it is better. I wasn't home or outside a lot yesterday but I felt the pool was cleaner particularly in areas it seemed to avoid totally before, so I think it helped! I'm need a day where I can sit out there and just watch it. but it still isn't cleaning like I think it should, for a $1000 cleaner.

 

[DMS2014]

This is what it picked up today from 8-3. Now this is weird because it has definitely been getting full. But today it’s not and there’s lots of Crud at the bottom. It looks worse than it did at 8 am.
View attachment 339794

oh, I could totally disgust you with what our pool cleaner pulled up after we opened the pool....

 

[EmilyOTR]

UPDATE: so I did release the pressure valve some and it seemed to help. I took it to Leslie's to get more information. they said they adjust a few things and they called polaris and they suggested I point my returns totally down while the cleaner is being used. well, I use it 12 hours a day because it doesn't clean the pool in that time. so that's dumb because more will fall if the surface isn't moving. I've been home about 3 hours and it hasn't finished cleaning. I feel like it's now climbing more again. ugh. It doesn't want to now clean the center of my pool.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

UPDATE: so I did release the pressure valve some and it seemed to help. I took it to Leslie's to get more information. they said they adjust a few things and they called polaris and they suggested I point my returns totally down while the cleaner is being used. well, I use it 12 hours a day because it doesn't clean the pool in that time. so that's dumb because more will fall if the surface isn't moving. I've been home about 3 hours and it hasn't finished cleaning. I feel like it's now climbing more again. ugh. It doesn't want to now clean the center of my pool.

Something isn't right with your Quattro. After much fiddling & adjusting, my Quattro mostly cleans my bigger-than-yours pool in 2 hours. It does seem to have 3 or 4 spots it likes to hang around in more than other spots. Did Leslie's submerge it and run water through it? Or just look at it drily?

I find it hard to believe adjusting your returns will help at all. Here's what I did and recommend. It took me several days to get Quattro optimized for my pool.

• Use the red disk.
• Grab a wrench and a flat screwdriver and get in the pool with Quattro running.
• Grab Quattro. Using the screwdriver, turn the rear jet to its lowest setting. You want more water going up the suction hole and less propelling Quattro.
• Using the wrench, point the thrust jet down. This will have minimal effect, but might as well do it.
• Looking from underneath, make sure plenty of water is squirting up the suction hole. If you don't have nice strong jets squirting up, something is broken or obstructed.
• Let Quattro run while you enjoy a beverage. If it's climbing too much, loosen the pressure relief some more. You will have to fine tune this, but you should be able to find a setting that allows Quattro to climb some but not too much.

If all of this fails, with your history you should be able to get Leslie's to take it back and exchange it for a 3900 or other Polaris.

 

[EmilyOTR]

Something isn't right with your Quattro. After much fiddling & adjusting, my Quattro mostly cleans my bigger-than-yours pool in 2 hours. It does seem to have 3 or 4 spots it likes to hang around in more than other spots. Did Leslie's submerge it and run water through it? Or just look at it drily?

I find it hard to believe adjusting your returns will help at all. Here's what I did and recommend. It took me several days to get Quattro optimized for my pool.

• Use the red disk.
• Grab a wrench and a flat screwdriver and get in the pool with Quattro running.
• Grab Quattro. Using the screwdriver, turn the rear jet to its lowest setting. You want more water going up the suction hole and less propelling Quattro.
• Using the wrench, point the thrust jet down. This will have minimal effect, but might as well do it.
• Looking from underneath, make sure plenty of water is squirting up the suction hole. If you don't have nice strong jets squirting up, something is broken or obstructed.
• Let Quattro run while you enjoy a beverage. If it's climbing too much, loosen the pressure relief some more. You will have to fine tune this, but you should be able to find a setting that allows Quattro to climb some but not too much.

If all of this fails, with your history you should be able to get Leslie's to take it back and exchange it for a 3900 or other Polaris.

thank you for this! we can't seem to get the wall fitting out to put the red disk in though.

 

[Rocket J Squirrel]

thank you for this! we can't seem to get the wall fitting out to put the red disk in though.

There is a tool specifically for this. It's hard to tell from the photo, but the long piece has holes through which you can insert a screwdriver for additional leverage. When replacing the UWF, wrap a couple of turns of teflon tape around it.

Amazon.com: Polaris 180 280 360 380 65 165 Cleaner UWF Wall Fitting Removal Tool 10-102-00 : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Buy Polaris 180 280 360 380 65 165 Cleaner UWF Wall Fitting Removal Tool 10-102-00: Automatic Pool Cleaner Replacement Parts - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

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